Chief Sec: I hope the PM is a man of his word

THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine has challenged Dr Rowley to make good on his promise to resign as Prime Minister if his version of the events which led to the non-appointment of a chief administrator, is untrue.

Augustine issued the challenge on Thursday night as he wound up debate on the $4.5 billion budget in the Assembly Legislature, Scarborough.

Rowley delivered a lengthy statement on the issue in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, saying a chief administrator will be appointed. He also laid a dossier in the Parliament surrounding the appointment of a chief administrator.

Minority Leader Kelvon Morris, in his budget response earlier that day, alluded to Dr Rowley’s stance and called on Augustine to say if he, too, is willing to put his job on the line over the issue.

Augustine said while he is willing to hold himself up to the same standard as the Prime Minister, “Next week, I will give a fuller statement on the matter and I hope the Prime Minister is a man to his word because he placed his own office on the line over this matter.”

He claimed the Prime Minister’s story changed three times.

“The Prime Minister returned from the Bahamas and he immediately blamed me for there not being a chief administrator,” he said.

“In fact, he insinuated and gave the impression to the public that somehow I am the reason why there is no chief administrator and I am the reason why a senior public official at CAST (Central Administrative Services – Tobago) wasn’t picked to be chief administrator, ignoring the same process that he talked about in the House.”

Augustine claimed the dossier contained two letters he had never seen.

“So I don’t know who he (Rowley) sent those letters to. But I have already started investigating my own office to see if by chance it came and nobody brought those letters to me.”

He said one of the letters, dated March 3, indicated that the Prime Minister wanted to start the consultation process.

“But there is a letter from me to him on March 10 complaining that there is no consultation…. Clearly, I am not mad.

“If you receive this letter on March 3 saying that we need to consult there would be no need for me to write him on March 10, complaining and using such strong language.”

Augustine observed the PM, in his statement, appeared to blame the Public Service Commission.

“He is trying to say, more or less, he did not know. His PS (permanent secretary) knew some things, the Public Service Commission knew some things but he did not know.”

He said staff at his office are looking for the “two documents in the dossier that I have never seen.

“If those two documents are found, I will make it known to the public.”

Augustine asked, “How can we, in a country where a senior public official, as senior as a chief ad, is retiring and a Public Service Commission is only beginning the process the day of the retirement or the day after the retirement?”

He added, “Well if he didn’t get that communication through his PS, he needs to find a way to fire his PS because if you were notified more than a month before, why do I have to two days before write you to say, ‘Are we consulting or not?’”

Augustine again claimed there were deliberate attempts to leave him out of the process.

“It was meant to leave me out of the process completely and they could install who they want. That is what I believe. They wanted to sole select a chief administrator.”

Augustine said, interestingly, when the issue of the absence of a chief administrator first arose, he did not blame the Prime Minister.

“I was under the impression from Day One that they were the slackers, given that I was convinced by the Prime Minister that he had done all the necessaries and made all the necessary recommendations and that we were ready to go.”

Augustine said he will not be distracted from his duties as chief secretary.

“There are some people who will never put their names on a ballot paper but they want to be chief secretary. I am not anybody’s rubber stamp.”

He said since entering office, the entire executive has been working extremely hard.

“You have secretaries who are dedicated and hard at work around the clock to correct and clean up all of the wrongs while pressing ahead.”